One of the big topics going into the Tennessee Titans’ 2020 season will be who is calling the plays on defense.
After former defensive coordinator Dean Pees retired following the 2019 season, the Titans didn’t name another to take his place and instead it’s expected that head coach Mike Vrabel, who is a former defensive coordinator himself, will call plays, or at the very least have a bigger role in running the defense.
If anyone knows just how capable Vrabel is at handling the added responsibility, it’s Pees, who praised the head coach while appearing as a guest on The Midday 180 Show on Wednesday.
Pees says fans should have the “utmost confidence” in Vrabel no matter what he ultimately decides to do with the defense, per Paul Kuharsky.
“I think it all depends on the person,” he said. “Look, Mike is a very, very smart guy. He’s going to do whatever needs to be done which is the best for the team and the best chance for success. And if he feels he can’t he won’t, if he feels he can, he will. If I were a fan of Tennessee, I would have the utmost confidence that he was going to be able to handle it one way or the other going forward.”
The other possibility for the Titans is that the defense is called by a committee of coaches, which is an approach the New England Patriots have used in the past.
Even though Vrabel hasn’t called plays in his first two seasons with the Titans, Pees explained how the head coach still leaves his mark on every facet of the team on game day.
“I’d say it was just every so often, some games a couple of times, some games maybe never, especially if things were going well then he just kind of let you go,” Pees said. “I think a lot of times, he’s managing the game. I don’t know if a lot of people know, but the head coach has a headset that he can click from the offense to the defense to the special teams. He can click over to everybody.
“He may be telling Arthur (Smith), ‘Hey this is four-down territory, we may go for it for four downs,’ (he may be saying ‘Hey they are in four-down territory.’ A lot of times what Mike would do is remind you of things. ‘Hey remember now, their field-goal kicker has a good leg here,’ or ‘he doesn’t kick so well going this direction.’”
The only concern with Vrabel calling plays is that it could take his focus away from the other side of the ball, leading to more questionable decisions the likes of which we’ve seen him make in the past.
However, Vrabel has set himself up with a good support system to avoid that.
He recently intimated that outside linebackers coach Shane Bowen would be his right-hand man when his attention isn’t on the defense, and inside linebackers coach Jim Haslett, who is a former head coach himself, was a new addition to the staff this offseason and can be an extra set of eyes.
With the way things have gone in Vrabel’s first two seasons in Nashville, he gets the benefit of the doubt that things will work out until they don’t, and the same can be said if he calls the plays on defense in 2020.
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